Whereupon

Half a lifetime ago . . .

before Lech Walesa and Duran Duran

before flares went out, then came in again

before Gazza’s tears, and Botham’s Ashes

before Reagan, and Clinton, and both the Bushes

before capitalism’s triumph and communism’s failure,

before Gordon and Jamie and Heston (though not Delia),

before Thatcher came in and the miners went out

before Starbucks, and Costa, and Subway, and Pret

before Star Wars began, before Harry Potter

before Google, and Facebook, and Flickr and Twitter

before the last three popes and Princess Diana

before global warming, Sting, and Madonna

. . . a boy asked a girl to go for a drink,

and she went,

whereupon

it all kicked off.